Flournoy, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Flournoy, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Flournoy lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Flournoy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Flournoy — the short answer
Flournoy, California: USDA zone 9b, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Tehama County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Flournoy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Flournoy's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Flournoy
Each reading below is measured for Flournoy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFlournoy runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Tehama County, the closest normal to Flournoy) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredFlournoy sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Flournoy is in
Flournoy sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Flournoy's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tehama County.
What Grows in Flournoy
Every plant below cleared Flournoy's own zone 9b and its 325-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Flournoy?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Flournoy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Flournoy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 024N005W21E001MNitrate · 2100 ft
- 024N005W20K001MNitrate · 2500 ft
- RONALD HUMPHREYBrownfields · 2600 ft
- CAIRO TRUCKINGBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- WALBERG TRUCKINGBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- NORTH VALLEY GAS WELL SERVICESBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- CRANE MILLS INCBrownfields · 5.8 mi
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 5.9 mi
- CDF SALT CREEK CONSERVATION CAMPBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- CAL FIREBrownfields · 6.5 mi
- 025N005W23A001MNitrate · 6.5 mi
- G&K Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Flournoy's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Flournoy.
Total Sites
39
within ~10 miles of Flournoy
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Flournoy
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Flournoy
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Flournoy, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Flournoy. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Flournoy
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Flournoy average
Your land is one point inside Flournoy
Everything above resolves to Flournoy as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tehama County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Flournoy Average
Flournoy Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Flournoy
- ●One soil character for all of Flournoy
- ●Frost dates read at Flournoy's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Flournoy's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Flournoy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Flournoy, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Flournoy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Flournoy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Flournoy average
How we know this about Flournoy
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Tehama County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Flournoy
When does frost risk typically end in Flournoy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Flournoy typically lands around Jan 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Feb 12.
When is the first frost in Flournoy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Flournoy typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Flournoy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Flournoy sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Nov 29, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Flournoy?
The federal record around Flournoy shows 39 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Flournoy?
From about Nov 13 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Flournoy's scale — its 9b band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Flournoy's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Flournoy’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Flournoy's own scale — the 3,747 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Flournoy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Flournoy, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Flournoy's boundary and the 3,747 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~325-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Flournoy's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Flournoy has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tehama County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Flournoy's 3,747 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tehama County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tehama County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Tehama County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Flournoy's 3,747 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Flournoy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,747 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Flournoy-wide figureread your own land →